Racial Differences in Veterans' Satisfaction With Addiction Treatment Services.

Jones AL, Hanusa BH, Appelt CJ, Haas GL, Gordon AJ, Hausmann LR. Racial Differences in Veterans' Satisfaction With Addiction Treatment Services. Journal of addiction medicine. 2015 Sep 1; 9(5):383-90.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• RCD 06-287 – Identifying Mechanisms Linking Perceived Discrimination & Health

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

OBJECTIVES: Racial minorities experience lower rates of alcohol treatment completion than whites. Treatment satisfaction is an important factor in alcohol treatment retention, yet few studies have explored the satisfaction of racial minorities while in treatment. This study examined racial differences in addiction treatment satisfaction and explored factors that might mediate or moderate racial differences in satisfaction. METHODS: We surveyed non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white veterans with an alcohol-related diagnosis about addiction treatment services at a large Veterans Affairs medical center. Treatment satisfaction was measured using the 8-item Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, dichotomized as low versus non-low satisfaction in analyses. The ? and logistic regression methods were used to test for associations of race and sociodemographic characteristics with treatment satisfaction. RESULTS: Among 271 black and 304 white veterans with an alcohol-related diagnosis, race was not statistically associated with treatment satisfaction in bivariate analyses (P? > 0.05). However, we identified significant interactions of race with mental health diagnoses in predicting treatment satisfaction in multivariable analyses (adj odds ratio? = 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI]? = 0.39-0.78). In post hoc comparisons among veterans with zero mental health diagnoses, black veterans had a greater probability of reporting low satisfaction than whites (marginal difference? = 0.13; 95% CI? = 0.04-0.22). In veterans with 4 or more diagnoses, whites had a greater probability than blacks of reporting low satisfaction (marginal difference? = 0.28, 95% CI? = 0.10-0.46). Regardless of race, past homelessness was associated with low satisfaction (adj odds ratio? = 2.09; 95% CI? = 1.19-3.67). CONCLUSIONS: Racial minorities, veterans with unstable housing, and white veterans with co-occurring mental health disorders may be at risk of experiencing low treatment satisfaction.